Quote from: Go Naz on March 07, 2010, 02:59:56 AM
Ok...its 3am and I'm still wide awake so I'm gonna go ahead and stir the pot a little bit.  You have one game to win....Corey Mcadam....Sean Burton or Sean O'Brien....who do you want to run the show for your team?  Obviously I am biased but I take Mcadam... I believe that he is arguably the best player in Empire 8history and I take him over the other two in any situation....thoughts??

One thing that I feel people are failing to take into account here is the fact that I said "You have one game to win"...if this is the case, I have to take Burton out of the running from the other two.  No disrepect to him, he was a great player, but in arguably the biggest three games of his career he went 0-3 (two E-8 games and one NCAA game)  Both Mcadam and O'Brien won big games, a career record of 13-1 in Empire 8 tournament games and 6 Conference Championships.  Answering this question from the perspective of having just one game to win, I have to take Corey first, followed by O'Brien and then Burton.  Who had the better career is a totally different discussion all together.

Ok...its 3am and I'm still wide awake so I'm gonna go ahead and stir the pot a little bit.  You have one game to win....Corey Mcadam....Sean Burton or Sean O'Brien....who do you want to run the show for your team?  Obviously I am biased but I take Mcadam... I believe that he is arguably the best player in Empire 8history and I take him over the other two in any situation....thoughts??

Congrats to Naz! Say whatever you want, they pulled themselves out of a double digit hole in the second half on their opponents floor, a very tough thing to do.  Fisher had an opportunity to step on their throats and they didnt.  There are bad calls in every game, it is just the nature of the beast.  I wish both Naz and Fisher luck in the NCAA's.

FROMAR,  I know that Miranda's injury is not still lingering.  Other than that I'm not really sure where his minutes went this year.  Naz definately needs help off the bench though, I believe they have 3 guys in the top ten for minutes played in the league this year, including 2 of the top 3? (Mcadam and Stephens) Just have to hope theyre in good condition and don't hit a wall.

I know I'm a little late here but I caught the Naz-RIT game the other night and had a few thoughts.  I was really impressed with the Naz comeback.  They chipped away through the entire second half and made big plays down the stretch.  I think the hole was just too deep to dig out of and they ran out of gas in overtime.  On the RIT side, what a performance by Harder.  He is just a tough, hard working, physical kid.  He really pushed Lothridge around the paint.  I was also impressed by RIT's ability to maintain focus in overtime.  It would have been easy to fold the tents after Naz making some tough shots to force overtime and then going up 5 to start overtime.  RIT showed a great deal of poise in overtime to pull the game out. 

I've always thought Naz/Fisher would be cool in the Blue Cross.  For those games, the gyms have been filled to capacity with hundreds being turned away at the door.  I'm not saying that they could sell the arena out, but I think a well advertised game at the Blue Cross could probably get 3-4 thousand people, especially if the schools provided shuttles down and back.  The only negative of this system would be playing the games away from the team's home courts.  I think one of the really special parts of that rivalry is the intimate nature of both those gyms, and the fact that the schools are so close.  Taking the game to a big venue eliminates that aspect of the rivalry.


As far as tonights games:

Fisher +9 over Alfred
Naz +4 over RIT
Ithaca+14 over Utica

Just wondering what everyone is thinking in regards to Medaille this year.  I realize they will get some respect in the regional rankings because of their record, but I have a tough time believing that they are as good as their record indicates.  The AMCC is short on quality teams and allows Medaille to rack up a number of wins.  If they are in the Empire 8, where would they finish?  Right now I would have to place them 6th.  I don't know if that sounds strange placing a 19-1 team 6th but I honestly can't see them beating Fisher, Stevens, Naz, Ithaca or RIT right now.  Thoughts from anyone else?

Really impressive outing for Corey tonight.  Elmira could not find any way to keep him out of the paint.  It will be interesting to see how Fisher tries to guard him Tuesday night.  With the exception of the recent egg layed by Nazareth at Ithaca, McAdam has a pretty solid record of showing up in big games.  Fisher has a lot of different guys they can throw at him over the course of the game however.  Naz could get in trouble if Fisher wears Corey out.  Corletta or Stephens will have to step up Tuesday night and take some of the offensive load off Corey's shoulders.  Gotta love a good Naz-Fisher battle.

In regards to the Stevens-Naz game, I find it hard to believe that Stevens is CLEARLY THE BETTER TEAM.  It is tough to back up that argument.  If they were CLEARLY BETTER, they would have taken care of business on their home court.  You can take about questionable calls all you want, but a superior team doesn't let officiating decide a game, especially not a game at home.  I love how little respect Naz gets on these boards.  After thumping RIT last night, I have to say that they are playing as well as anyone in the Empire 8 right now, but no one seems to mention them when talking about elite teams in the league.  Broderick has made them a very good defensive team, and they have the best player in the league running the show for them.  They play a small athletic lineup and create big time match up problems for other teams.  Right now they have as good a chance to win the league as anyone else if not a better one.  Meanwhile...Naz will just keep basking in the hate down here on East Ave.

Naz looking very tough yesterday against Utica.  One of the best defensive games Naz has played in the past 5 years.  Its rare that Naz and defense are mentioned in the same sentence but they really got after Utica yesterday.  Tyshaun Stephens is playing as well as you could ask for a freshmen right now.  He looks like Rayvon Hidgon with a jumpshot.  My only concern is that the team now goes on a 3 week break for finals and then the holidays.  I just hope they can stay focused and in shape.

How can you say that Newman handles Mcadam every time they face each other?  The last 6 times they have faced each other look like this:

Corey: 16.5 ppg, 7.3 apg
Newman: 11.8ppg, 4 apg

Naz has won 4 of those 6 games, one of which was a conference championship.  It's tough to make the argument that Newman handles Mcadam when Corey puts up better number and his team wins.

Hello all, new to the boards this year.  Had my first chance to see Naz last night as they lost to Roberts at the Blue Cross.  Naz did not look sharp and was handled rather easily by Roberts for most of the game.  A run made Roberts lead 5 with about 9 minutes left but that was as close as Naz would get.  A few notes:

-Naz shot 4 of 26 from 3 for the game.  This should improve, a number of the shots missed were good looks. 

-Naz was hurt in the paint.  Right now the have no presence in the paint.  They lost a lot of size last year and it showed.  While their guards did a nice job rebounding the ball, they had a difficult time guarding the post players from Roberts. 

-Jason Corletta looked good.  He has improved and should become a major scoring threat this year.  Look for him to make up for some of  the poinst lost through graduation

-Naz is YOUNG.  They have 11 guys on the roster and only 5 are returning players.  Mcadam is the only senior and there are no juniors.  They young guys have a lot of talent and I think several of them, especially Tyshun Stephens have bright futures.  They will however go through the ups and downs that come with most freshmen.

Overall, I was not happy with the Naz performance but also not too concerned this early in the year.  They will not see many other teams with that kind of size in the E-8.  Mcadam gives them a chance to win every night and the young guys will come along.  I feel like they could be a slow starter this year but finish strong once their youth matures a little bit.